Stand Up for Nuclear

Nuclear energy just made Nature's list of seven technologies to watch in 2026 – and for good reason. I was invited to contribute a few thoughts on small modular and advanced reactors, and their potential role in meeting growing electricity demand. Even if the AI-driven surge slows, the underlying challenge remains: we need more clean, firm power in the grid. Grateful to be included in the recent piece by Michael Eisenstein. Link in the comments.

Das ist Lisa Raß, vor einem Jahr vor dem französischen Kernkraftwerk Cattenom. 2020 hat sie auf Demos der @Nuklearia andere Mütter angesprochen, um @moms4nuclear im deutschsprachigen Raum aufzubauen. Am vergangenen Freitag ist sie verstorben. Sie fehlt uns sehr.

This is what mass production of gigawatt-scale reactor components looks like. In 1981, 26 reactors were under construction in France. Each vessel can power 1 million households. Absolutely epic.

The @NRDC supports restarting Duane Arnold. "This is unprecedented for us because it marks the first time in our history that we have taken action in support of an individual nuclear power plant," Manish Bapna, president and CEO of @NRDC. I'm not tired of winning, are you?

A Majority of EU Citizens Support Nuclear Energy 💙 The top 5 most pro-nuclear countries: 1️⃣ Czechia (77%) 2️⃣ Finland (71%) 3️⃣ Poland (69%) 4️⃣ Denmark (66%) 5️⃣ France (66%) These numbers come from a European Commission survey (Special Eurobarometer 557) asking Europeans: “Do you think nuclear energy will have a positive, negative, or no effect on our way of life in the next 20 years?” Compared with the same survey four years earlier, positive attitudes toward nuclear increased by 10 percentage points. The country that saw the biggest increase is surprisingly Denmark. Positive attitudes among Danes rose by 44 percentage points, from 22% to 66%. This enormous shift places Denmark in the top 5 most pro-nuclear countries in the EU. This is a country that banned nuclear energy for electricity production in 1999 and kept it out of national energy planning since 1985. One thing is clear: EU citizens increasingly support nuclear energy, and the trend is only growing

Taiwan’s nuclear phaseout created a vulnerability that now sits directly on top of the Qatar Ras Laffan force majeure. The uncomfortable arithmetic is that the nuclear capacity Taiwan chose to retire is almost exactly equal to the LNG volume it imports from Qatar. Taiwan imports roughly 35 percent of its LNG from Qatar. LNG now fuels nearly half of Taiwan’s electricity after the political phaseout of nuclear power. The island maintains only about eleven days of LNG storage. Had Taiwan kept its full nuclear fleet operating and commissioned Lungmen, its completed but never fuelled fourth nuclear plant, the country would today have roughly 7,750 MW of nuclear capacity producing about 61 TWh per year, covering around 21 percent of the grid. Replacing that output with gas requires far more primary energy because Taiwan’s combined cycle gas turbines operate at roughly 55 percent thermal efficiency. Producing 61 TWh of electricity from gas therefore requires roughly 110 TWh of fuel input, equivalent to about 10 to 11 billion cubic metres of natural gas or roughly 7 to 8 million tonnes of LNG per year. That volume is almost exactly the amount of LNG Taiwan currently imports from Qatar. In other words, the nuclear fleet Taiwan shut down would have displaced essentially the entire Qatari supply stream. Every cargo that does not need to cross the Strait of Hormuz is a cargo that cannot be held hostage. Instead that capacity was retired and mothballed on political grounds and the gap was filled with gas. On 23 August Taiwan held a referendum on whether to restart the Ma’anshan nuclear plant, the island’s last operating reactor station, which had shut down in May after its forty year operating licence expired. A clear majority of participating voters supported restarting the plant subject to regulatory approval and safety confirmation. Taiwan’s referendum law, however, requires affirmative votes from at least one quarter of all eligible voters, roughly five million people. The referendum received about 4.3 million yes votes, leaving it below the legal threshold and keeping the plant offline, effectively confirming the continuation of Taiwan’s nuclear phaseout. Oil markets built resilience after decades of shocks. Strategic petroleum reserves, spare tanker capacity, and a deep spot market exist precisely because embargoes and supply crises forced the system to develop buffers. LNG developed very differently. For most of its history it operated as a point to point business, the same ships on the same routes under long term contracts, functioning in conditions stable enough that nobody was forced to build equivalent shock absorption into the system. Storage compounds this vulnerability and it divides sharply along geographic lines. Europe benefits from geology. Depleted gas fields and salt caverns can hold months of supply, which is why European utilities spend the summer refilling underground storage ahead of winter demand. Asia has no equivalent. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan depend almost entirely on above ground insulated LNG tanks at their import terminals, essentially the same thermos principle used on LNG ships. South Korea had roughly nine days of LNG supply when Ras Laffan went offline. Taiwan had about eleven days. Japan operates in a similar range. These are operational buffers designed for a world of uninterrupted deliveries rather than strategic reserves designed to ride out supply shocks. When a major node in the LNG system fails, there is no large fleet of idle ships ready to reroute, no spare liquefaction capacity waiting to fill the gap, and in Asia no underground storage that can stabilize supply while the market adjusts. Taiwan’s nuclear shutdown therefore produced a structural vulnerability that is now impossible to ignore. The reactors that were closed would today be offsetting almost the entire volume of LNG Taiwan buys from Qatar. There's never been a better time to restart Taiwan's nuclear fleet.

You may see headlines saying “200 gallons of oil leaked at the Monticello nuclear plant.” Let’s add some context because the headline is missing important details, @Fox9 Short thread 🧵

🇨🇭#Switzerland had planned to phase out its 3 #Nuclear power plants that supply 30% of the nation's electricity, but yesterday the Swiss Senate voted in favour of a U-turn↪️ that lifts the long-standing ban on building new reactors.⤴️🏗️⚛️⚡️👷🤠🐂 #Uranium swissinfo.ch/eng/climate-ad…

This is a choice Merz is making. It absolutely does not have to be this way. He correctly campaigned on restarting nuclear plants. Now he claims nothing can be done. There are no significant technical obstacles. The economics are favorable. The public supports it. This is a weak excuse from a weak leader.

Energy Shock in Middle East revives interest in nuclear power The 1970’s oil crisis learned us one thing. We need to produce our own energy, if we want to be competitive and self-sufficient. France built over 50 reactors because of the energy crisis in the 70’s. Will we see the same thing again? European leaders will now have to decide on the future of Europe’s energy mix. Nuclear, wind, solar, batteries and hydro will all play a vital role in the transition.

L’énergie nucléaire, c’est la compétitivité, la baisse de nos émissions de CO2 et la réduction de nos dépendances.

Five more countries sign the declaration to triple nuclear energy by 2050 At the Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris on March 10, hosted by the Government of France in cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg), China, Brazil, Italy, Belgium and South Africa joined the global commitment to at least triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050. With these new signatories, a total of 38 countries now support the declaration. The pledge was first launched by Net Zero Nuclear (@NZNGlobal) at COP28 in Dubai, where countries committed to work together toward tripling global nuclear capacity from 2020 levels by 2050 as part of the effort to reach net-zero emissions. Since then, the coalition has continued to grow as more governments recognise the role nuclear energy can play in providing reliable, low-carbon electricity while strengthening energy security. With the latest additions, the countries supporting the pledge now represent around 70% of the global economy. What is particularly notable is the geographic diversity of the countries involved. The declaration now includes nations from Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Momentum behind nuclear energy is clearly building. If the world is serious about decarbonising the energy system while meeting rapidly growing electricity demand, expanding nuclear power will be a key part of the solution.

Forward the video to 1.40: “… While in 1990, one third of Europe's electricity came from nuclear, today it's only close to 15%. This reduction in the share of nuclear was a choice. And in hindsight, it was a strategic mistake…” Good to see a EU/German politician to admit it.

📣 Reducing nuclear power was a strategic mistake, says EU President Today world leaders gather in Paris to discuss the future of nuclear power. In a clear message, the EU Commission President @vonderleyen calls it a strategic mistake reducing nuclear power in the EU. A 🧵 1/4

MAKING HISTORY 🚧: @TerraPower’s Natrium advanced reactor project in Kemmerer, Wyoming, just received a construction permit from the @NRCgov. It’s the first commercial non-light-water power reactor construction permit to be approved by the NRC. energy.gov/ne/articles/nr…

The US energy secretary is now calling for the restart of Indian Point. We hosted this panel in December. Closing Indian Point was bad for the grid, bad for ratepayers, bad for the environment, and bad for Downstate NY — and we said so before it was politically safe. Facts don't change because the timing isn't right. At Stand Up, we fight anyway.

SECRETARY OF ENERGY @SecretaryWright CALLS FOR RESTART OF INDIAN POINT This remains the fastest way to get reliable, emissions-free power on the grid in downstate New York, one of the most energy-constrained parts of the country. Closing it was a terrible mistake. It can be undone.

Two new papers claim nuclear plants increase cancer risk. That sounds alarming. But they are not studies of radiation exposure. They are studies of geographic proximity and do not provide valid results. 🧵

Illinois communities know nuclear. They live near it. They work in it. They rely on it. And they want more of it. nbcchicago.com/news/local/chi…

A common refrain I hear is 'nuclear takes too long'. But thats only true in the west. Today, China reached the second major milestone of nuclear construction at Lufeng 2 in just *70 DAYS* For reference, at Vogtle 3, it took *879 DAYS*